Zootopia: Soft Targets
by Furryfurryrabbit
Summary: For several months after Bellwether was thrown behind bars Judy and Nick were able to relax. They settled into a routine, grew closer, and are even considering dating. Life has gotten to be pretty great lately. Well, it was fun while it lasted. Time for a shady character to take an interest in them and ruin everything.
1. Chapter 1: Intro

Jerry Jumbeaux hated his apartment. There were some parts of Zootopia that just weren't very convenient for the larger mammals, no matter how beautiful the city itself was. His living space took up the entire basement floor of a building right next to Little Rodentia. He could actually see the miniature metropolis from his window.

The bills were murder. So was the landlady, who wasn't crazy about missing out on the rent that several families of smaller mammals would have provided. Still, that was life in the big city. Bigger mammals had to be accommodated under penalty of law, and that was that. If she didn't like it, well, she was in the wrong business wasn't she?

Too bad he couldn't get somewhere with higher ceilings. Jerry was constantly in danger of banging his head against one of the low doorways leading to his kitchen. It was a good thing he had such a thick skull, or he'd be knocking himself senseless on the regular.

Something clattered to the ground in the kitchen. Great. Now he'd probably have a mess to clean up after spending all day doing much the same thing at his ice cream parlor. He stomped through the dark apartment, ducking instinctively to avoid bumping his head, and flipped on the kitchen light.

One of the cabinet doors was hanging open, and Tupperware had spilled out onto the floor. Well, that wasn't so bad. Jerry bent low and began to scoop up the plastic containers, his trunk making the job considerably easier. 

A loud cracking noise filled the room. Jerry dropped like a ton of bricks, a quarter-size hole blown into the top of his head. The elephant's thick skull hadn't protected him this time. 

* * *

There was something really special about watching the city get ready for the day. Judy had only been working in Zootopia for a few months, but already she had developed her own morning ritual. Right before work she would sit in a coffee shop for half an hour, sip a latte, and watch the crowds of animals pass by outside. Rising early wasn't a problem for a farm bunny, and she was always grateful for a good start to the day.

Judy was still enamored with her job. True, she still worked most of her shifts as a meter maid, but Chief Bogo was slowly putting her into more and more important roles when he had the chance. She understood the system now; as a cop she needed to learn her way around town, but as a rooky she needed to be kept out of harm's way until she had a little more experience under her tiny belt. Traffic duty allowed her to do both. It didn't feel like a punishment any longer, more like she was going through the same initiation that every other cop had to deal with.

Nick was in the same boat. They hardly saw each other at work since writing tickets didn't require a partner, but they ate lunch together and hung out while not on the clock. The fox was chafing under the Chief's authority a little, but he'd come around eventually. Turning from con man to cop wasn't the easiest transformation to make.

This morning hadn't started out quite like the others. Judy had received a gift outside her door that caught her by surprise. A little basket of sweet pea pods, still cool and wet with condensation, was waiting with a ribbon tied around the handle. There was no card, but right away she knew who had left it for her. It was a surprisingly sweet gesture from a fox that had once called romance and flirting a very expensive way to earn a restraining order.

It had to be Nick, of course. Who else could know her well enough to do something like this? There were a few officers at Precinct 1, none of whom seemed even remotely interested in romance. Those that were had mates already or weren't looking to date a bunny. She also knew the Ottertons, who didn't know her address. No, this had to be her best friend's doing.

The question was, why? Did he just want to do something nice for her? She hoped so, because there was no way they'd end up dating. Police officers that worked together weren't supposed to get romantically involved, and she badly wanted to keep him as her partner. Besides, they were two very different species. Nothing good could come of that, no matter how progressive both of them had become. Predators and prey could coexist in relative harmony, but as a couple? Forget it.

Judy sighed, finished her coffee, and headed for the door. She waved at the rabbit behind the counter on the way out. He made a really good latte.

It was hard to know what to say to Nick, or if she should even say anything at all. Judy didn't want to hurt his feelings, or to make him think she was turning him down for the wrong reasons. At this point she wasn't even sure that he meant for the gift to be a romantic gesture and not a simple favor for a friend.

Maybe she should just stay quiet. It would be easier to make a decision once she knew his intentions. That certainly seemed like the right thing to do. Judy felt a lot better now that she had a course of action in mind, and was able to approach the day with her usual enthusiasm.

The hare reached her desk before her partner, as usual. Nick didn't show up until just before the morning's briefing, coffee in hand and eyes hiding behind mirrored sunglasses. "Lazy fox," Judy muttered as she climbed onto the chair next to him.

"Dumb bunny," he responded. "You should try switching to the night shift. We'll see who has trouble staying awake then. Think I could convince them to give me a bonus for working days since I'm nocturnal?"

Judy snorted and nudged him with an elbow. "No, and the last thing you need is for anyone to take a closer look at your finances when tax season comes along."

Nick rolled his eyes so hard that it almost looked painful. "Is it my fault that I dared to do the impossible? Death and taxes were once life's two certainties. I've managed to conquer one, and for _some_ reason that makes me the bad guy."

"And to think, some animals just spend their time trying to cure cancer or end world hunger."

"Well I'm not a scientist or a doctor, but I like to think my talents speak for themselves." The fox was the only one that didn't rise a few moments later as Chief Bogo entered the room. Nick had somehow managed to get away with that thus far, although it annoyed their boss a little more each time. There was probably a punishment in store for him just as soon as Bogo got around to thinking of one.

The two rookies were assigned parking duty. Big surprise. Judy and Nick set out in their underpowered "jokemobiles" to hand out as many tickets as they could and then met at Judy's favorite coffee shop for lunch. Everything seemed perfectly normal, which either meant that Nick wasn't behind the gift or that he didn't intend for it to be a romantic gesture.

That made Judy feel a bit better. Part of her was disappointed, but she knew that things would be less complicated this way. It also meant that the difficult question of why she was so concerned over Nick's opinion of her could wait to be answered another time. Or, as was more likely at this point, she could just never answer it at all. That sounded like a much better idea.


	2. Chapter 2: Gifts

Judy woke the next morning to find another surprise outside of her door. This one was a bouquet of red tulips. Nick _had_ to be behind this one, unless someone else had guessed her favorite flower and chosen it over a rose. So much for hoping that these were platonic gestures.

This was starting to get a little frustrating. The bunny sat on her bed and moodily pulled the flowers apart, munching the blooms listlessly as her thoughts drifted to her partner. Nick was a really nice guy, and he was being very sweet. He was also handsome, and worse, he knew it. If he was trying to win her over then chances were good he'd succeed.

This wasn't going to be a fun day. There wouldn't be time to talk before the morning briefing, so Judy was going to have to wait until lunch to speak with Nick about their relationship. Doing it over the phone felt cowardly, and she owed him more than a text turning him down. What in the holy rabbit holes was she going to tell him? Was there a way to shut this down without risking their friendship?

"Just take it easy," Judy told herself as she checked her uniform in the mirror. "Nick is a good friend. He'll understand." With those halfhearted words of encouragement still ringing in her ears, the bunny snapped on her belt and hopped out the door.

Business as usual. Morning briefing seemed to take forever, and Judy was sure that she caught Nick staring at her once or twice. Did he look a little more shifty than usual? Was she just imagining things? Maybe her friend was a bit tense when they parted ways, the corners of his mouth turned up less than she was used to. Was it possible that she was just projecting? All of this self-doubt was really starting to bog her down, and the day had only just begun!

The first half of her shift dragged on even more than usual. Judy tried to approach everything with the same enthusiasm and optimism that normally made her day fly by, but it was a doomed effort. The poor bunny had only written eighty-nine tickets by lunchtime. Her record was more than twice that!

At least it would end soon. Judy approached her favorite cafe with a knot in her belly, still running through gentle ways to turn Nick down in her mind. She needed to make sure that she wasn't being patronizing. He _hated_ that, which was pretty ironic considering his main method of dealing with anyone he didn't like was to patronize them until they went away.

Nick was late as usual. He never walked into a room unless animals were waiting impatiently for him, whether by design or because he was just awful at managing his time. Judy waved to the barista, who made up her usual without a word, and sat next to a window to watch the crowds outside.

It was only a few minutes later that a familiar presence loomed over her. "You know I don't like it when you pretend to stalk me," Judy muttered. "Can't you just say 'hello' like a normal person?"

"I can't help myself." Nick slid into the booth across from her and took off his sunglasses. "You looked so darn cute the first time that I have to keep trying. Something wrong, Carrots? Your battery finally stop going and going? Your ears are all droopy."

Judy cursed inwardly and tried to force a smile. Sometimes being easy to read was helpful, like when she needed to convince a witness that she could be trusted. Other times, not so much. "It's nothing. I've just got something on my mind. How was your day?"

"Boring and safe, just like they usually are. You won't hear me complaining. This is half as much work as I ever had to put into one of my totally legitimate business ideas. It's half the pay, too, but I don't have to worry about getting hassled by the cops." The fox reached across the table to touch her paw. "You sure you're okay? I haven't seen you this unhappy since they busted Gazelle and sent her to rehab."

"That was one of her dancers and you know it!" Judy felt the corners of her mouth turn up a little. "Alright, fine. I was trying to think of a good way to approach this, but I suppose there isn't one. How do you feel about me, Nick?"

Before her friend could answer he was interrupted by their server. Nick always made a point of not remembering his name even though 'Jack' was written on his nametag in big, bold letters. Maybe he felt threatened by another bunny.

They placed their orders and Jack scurried off, nimbly crossing the room in a few quick bounces. "I always worry he'll land on someone's plate by mistake and get eaten," Nick said. "Well, maybe _worry_ is the wrong word. What's a better one...wish? Yeah, I'll go with wish."

There was something subtly different about his smile now. Nick was a natural at hiding his feelings, no doubt a product of his troubled childhood and his time as a con artist. Judy still had trouble noticing when something was bothering him. "Please, Nick? I really think we need to talk about this."

Nick took a drink of water and cleared his throat. "Not sure what you mean. We've been through a lot, and now we're partners even if we usually just write tickets all day. You're probably the best friend I've ever had, and that's including the little guy who threatens me with a baseball bat when I win at cards. I tell ya, he isn't an easy act to follow."

"And that's it?" Judy fidgeted with her paws beneath the table. "Just friends?"

Fox and hare both lapsed into a painfully uncomfortable silence. Nick was the first to break it. "I was afraid it would complicate things."

"Well, it does." Judy had to clear her throat to remove the lump forming there. "Nick, I like you. In fact I think I like you a little more than I should if we're going to be working together. We can't act on that. It's too risky. Plus, I-I mean, it's not really common for animals to date outside their own species."

Nick's stricken look hurt a lot more than she was prepared for. "I'm not turning you down because of that!" she insisted. "Believe me, I wouldn't hold something like that against you. I learned that lesson the hard way. We just have to play by the rules from now on, okay? I bent a few of them already and almost got fired for it. The last thing either of us needs is to keep pushing the envelope."

"It isn't against the rules for cops to date each other," Nick pointed out. "Just discouraged. Sort of like how it isn't against the rules to sell popsicle sticks to mice as building material. I think we both know how well that works out." His smile showed nearly every tooth in his mouth, which sent a very strange tingle down his partner's spine. That had been happening to her a lot lately.

"We'll stay friends," Judy insisted, and took his paw with both of hers. She was glad that he could joke about this. If he could do that, then he could handle being turned down. "I mean it, Nick. We can't be romantically involved, but I don't want that to come between us."

Romance movies never made the "just friends" ending seem like a happy one, but Judy could tell that her words had helped. "You're right," Nick agreed, and gave a sad little smile. It wasn't much, but it gave her hope. "We'll always be friends, Carrots. I promise. Just...if you ever change your mind, you know where to find me." 

* * *

As much as she wanted to believe that the problem had been resolved, Judy had a bad feeling that Nick might not give up that easily. He knew how charming he could be when he really tried. Later that night, long after she should have been asleep, the bunny lay awake in bed wondering what tomorrow would bring. Would Nick accept her decision, or take it as a challenge?

Just as she was about to nod off there was a quiet scratching sound from the hallway. Judy groaned and buried her face in a pillow. Had that cocky fox come back again with another gift? Was he just doing it to annoy her this time? It seemed like the kind of thing he'd do, making a little joke to show that he had no hard feelings.

Judy rolled out of bed and pulled on a shirt. Her old training sweats usually just served as gym clothes or sleepwear these days. They weren't very warm, a fact that she came to resent as she trudged across her cold floor.

Whoever was on the other side of the door froze as the knob turned. Judy was already picturing the dorky look of apprehension that Nick got whenever someone caught him red-handed doing something wrong.

It was quite a disappointment to find the hallway completely devoid of foxes. Instead there was only a familiar rabbit with a box of chocolates that had to weigh almost as much as he did. "H-Hi!" he stammered. "You were supposed to be asleep. Not that I'm unhappy to see you or anything! I just didn't want to make a fuss, and it's pretty late. Um, do you remember me? I-I was your waiter today. And yesterday. I guess I've been your waiter almost every day, actually."

The surprise wore off quickly, giving way to something that Judy couldn't identify and didn't want to deal with at the moment. "Sure I remember!" she said, forcing a smile that only Nick would have seen through. "Jack, right?"

"Yeah. Uh, here!" He pushed the cardboard heart into her arms and smiled bashfully. "I wanted to say that you're sort of...well, I'm a big fan. L-Lots of us are. There aren't many hares doing important things in this city, so you're sort of an inspiration. I've got a little brother that wants to be a cop when he grows up because of you."

This wasn't the first time that someone had given Judy more credit than she felt she deserved, but it was certainly the most personal. "Aww, thank you! That's really sweet, but you didn't need to get me all of this. You could have just come up and said hello!"

Jack chuckled nervously and shifted on his feet. It wasn't hard to tell that he had trouble meeting new people. Introversion was a very common trait for rabbits. "D-Don't be too proud of yourself. Last month he wanted to be a Power Ranger. Still, I wanted to thank you for giving us all something to be proud of. The little guys out there don't have many animals looking out for them."

For a moment Judy was reminded of the first time she'd met Bellwether, back when she'd have been glad to call Dawn her friend. "Well, I'm flattered. I don't know how much I deserve it, but it was really nice of you to say so." They shook paws, and she took the opportunity to pass the chocolates back to him. "I don't think I can accept this, though. You've already done too much for me. Go enjoy them yourself, okay? It can't be easy to afford all this on a waiter's budget."

"Maybe I did go a little overboard. I, uh, guess that's a no?" Jack's ears drooped a bit, but he didn't push the issue any further.

Judy found herself caught between letting him down easy and wanting to be firm. The fact that she didn't know what she wanted in the first place didn't make it any easier to come up with a good answer. "How about this? I'll think about it. It isn't a no, but I need time to figure things out. I've been so busy lately that I haven't given dating much thought at all."

"Oh! No, I totally understand." Jack made an ill-fated attempt at tucking the chocolates under his arm, but the box was too big to be comfortably carried that way. What in the world had made him think that one bunny could handle all of that? "I'll see you around, then. Thanks for not being mad that I woke you up at..." he glanced at his watch and then finished with "two in the morning. Gosh, is it that late already? S-Sorry again. Later!"

With that he scampered away, leaving Judy alone. She shut her door and slumped against it for support, more tired than she had been in a long time. As she climbed back into bed and tossed her sweats aside, Judy realized what the uncomfortable feeling in her gut was; she felt guilty.

Nick had kept his feelings to himself this whole time, and from his perspective she had brought them to the surface for no good reason. Judy had hurt him, forced him to talk about something that he'd buried to avoid complications. He'd done the mature, cautious thing and still ended up getting his heart broken despite it.

She'd have to talk with him again, apologize for bringing it up. Judy rolled over and buried her face in her pillow, finally tired enough to drift off to sleep. She'd think about all of this tomorrow. 

* * *

Tomorrow came and - surprise! - Judy still didn't know what to do. Her emotions felt like they were all tangled up in knots inside her, and her usual solution to that kind of problem was out of the question. Going to the cafe to think this over would just remind her of the (admittedly cute) bunny boy that had tried really hard to impress her.

It wasn't as though Judy didn't _want_ a boyfriend. She'd been single for quite a while, and it might be nice to have a little romance in her life. There just wasn't a lot of time with the kind of schedule she kept, and she didn't meet many animals when not on the clock. Those she did meet were almost never of her own species.

Still, she didn't want to settle down with the first hare she came across. Her parents had given her a speech long ago about settling and, while they had probably forgotten about it, Judy remembered every word. They had settled for their jobs, their burrow, and the land they'd been working for the last three decades or so. The only thing they hadn't mentioned, the thing that was conspicuous by its absence, was their marriage. No two bunnies had ever loved each other like Stu and Bonnie.

Judy wanted a relationship like that. If it was worth doing then, she reasoned, it was worth doing right. Jack was her own species, and not half bad looking even though he was quite a bit older. Nearly Nick's age, if her guess was right. He'd probably make an excellent partner.

If only it could be that easy. Jack didn't excite her, didn't occupy her thoughts late at night when she should really be getting some rest. He would never be able to step in and support her when the immense pressure of being the first rabbit cop became too much. Only Nick could do that, and in all her life only that smarmy fox had ever made her heart beat faster just because he smiled a certain way.

Seriously, why was she suddenly so drawn to his smile lately? Was she developing predosexual tendencies after the incident at the museum?

There wasn't time to worry about all of this. Crime waited for no one, and she needed to get to work. Judy strapped on her gear, polished her badge, and hopped out of her apartment with a familiar spring in her step. A quick visit to the cafe would help her take care of at least one thing that was bothering her.

Jack was waiting with the same smile that had greeted her almost every morning for the last several months. She felt bad for not paying him more attention before now. How long had it taken him to work up the nerve to approach his hero with a gift?

She ordered her usual, an orange muffin and a pumpkin spice latte. The hustle and bustle outside was just as vibrant as ever. When Jack brought her breakfast she reached out and put a hand on his shoulder to stop him from leaving. "Do you have a second?" she asked. "It's about last night. I thought about it."

The corners of Jack's mouth turned up just enough to show an unusually large pair of buck teeth. "And?"

Oh god, he was adorable. This was going to be hard. "I'm sorry. You're a really sweet guy, but I don't think you're what I'm looking for. Don't be upset, okay? There are a lot of nice rabbits out there. You'll find the right one.

To his credit Jack took the news very well. "I understand. Don't think I'll give up just yet, though. I might end up changing your mind. Can I ask for a favor before you go?" He reached into his apron and pulled out a folded paper, one of the posters that Bellwether had made up to show Judy as the new face of the ZPD. They had never been widely distributed, but a few boxes of them were probably still floating around somewhere. "I found one of these the other day, and I just know my brother's never going to believe that I met you unless I have proof. Do you think you could sign this for him? I'll basically be the coolest big brother ever if you do."


	3. Chapter 3: Watched

It was good that Jack could handle rejection. Judy didn't think she could take the guilt of breaking some poor bunny's heart on top of everything else.

Nick was waiting for her, his slick smile and mirrored sunglasses hiding whatever discomfort he might have been feeling. She sat next to him, the two smaller mammals taking one big chair between them. "We need to talk," she murmured.

Nick looked as though he couldn't choose between being annoyed or curious. "We already talked, Carrots. Didn't we say enough?"

"No! I mean, yes. I don't know." Judy rubbed her temples and groaned. "I need a chance to explain why I brought it up in the first place."

Her friend shrugged and sipped his coffee, resigned to yet another uncomfortable conversation. "If that's what you want."

For once they weren't assigned parking duty. Judy and Nick were both put on crowd control, a job they were very good at thanks to the media attention they'd received after the Bellwether incident. The notoriety made it very easy to command other mammal's attention.

The officers assigned to the scene were given a very short briefing. There had been a murder, forensics needed room to work, and nobody was allowed to talk to the press. Apparently this wasn't the usual robbery gone wrong. Somehow a huge crowd had actually beaten the first responders to the scene.

Nick was uncharacteristically silent while they stood outside the house. It was hard to blame him. They were still new to the force, after all, and for all of the tension between its many citizens Zootopia remained a relatively peaceful place. Homicides were really rare.

The coroner removed the body in a black bag under the watchful eyes of onlookers that really shouldn't have been there. "This is so weird," Judy muttered. "How did all these mammals know about this so quickly?"

The answer came from one of the investigators, a tigress with a gold band around her tail. She wore a pristine black suit and dark sunglasses, every inch of her radiating the MIB vibe. "The killer did his own PR. He posted a video on Zootube. We took it down as soon as we could, but you know how these things go. Once it's up on the internet it's never really gone." She shook Judy's hand, then Nick's. "Agent Stripe, ZBI. Mind if I ask you two a few questions?"

Nick and Judy exchanged glances. "It won't do you much good," the fox said. "The first we heard about this was in the briefing this morning."

"At least you didn't see the video," Stripe said under her breath. "Look, I know this isn't going to be a fun subject for you so I'll keep it brief. There's a chance that this is related to Bellwether's arrest. The video made several references to species discrimination and wage gaps. None of it was about prey activism specifically, but it sounded awfully similar to the agenda she was pushing. Do you know of any accomplices she might have been working with? We're looking for someone big, like an elephant or a rhinoceros."

"Why?" Nick asked. "And why target this guy? I knew Jumbeaux. He wasn't anyone important. Why kill some random ice cream vendor?"

Stripe could only shrug and shake her head. "We don't know why he was targeted, but there aren't many things that could put such a big hole in an elephant's skull. Nobody heard a gunshot and there's no bullet, so we think it was some kind of blunt instrument. That rules out smaller mammals. Most of them don't have that kind of strength." She looked around at the crowd and motioned for the officers to follow her. "Let's talk inside. No need to cause a panic."

They followed her into the elephant's home, each wondering if the other was frightened. The answer to both was a resounding yes. If Bellwether's cronies were still out there and committing murders, a certain rabbit and fox duo would be very high on their hit list.

"Here's the thing," the tigress began. "This isn't an isolated incident. We've done our best to keep it quiet, but there have been other murders fitting this profile."

Judy felt a chill go down her spine. "A serial killer?"

"Yeah." Stripe adjusted her tie, snugging the knot up to her collar. "Do either of you remember any larger mammals working for Bellwether?"

As far as Nick and Judy could remember, Bellwether was mostly assisted by a group of rams. She was very particular about the kinds of animals she worked with. "We'll keep looking," the tigress assured them. She reached into her coat and pulled out a pair of business cards. "In the meantime, keep your eyes open. If you think of anything, give me a call."

"We will." Judy looked down at a dark red stain on the kitchen tile and felt sick to her stomach. "Let's go back outside. This place is giving me the creeps."

Nick didn't have to say anything for her to know that he felt the same. They let the forensics experts finish up inside before cordoning off the whole ground floor and sealing the crime scene. Lunch was a somber affair after all that. Judy and Nick sat in a booth in a cheap Italian restaurant, chewing quietly and pretending not to be consumed with grim thoughts.

They had almost finished eating when Judy remembered she had something important to do. "I've changed my mind," she said, apropos of nothing.

Nick looked up at her, his mouth full of noodles with one dangling from his lips. "It's a bit late. You've already eaten half of it."

"No, I meant about us." She reached over to take Nick's hand, determined to go through with this before she could change her mind yet again. All of this flip-flopping wasn't fair for her friend. She needed to make a choice and stick with it. "There's one condition, though. We have to promise not to let this mess up what we already have."

That was it, then. She'd gotten it out in the open. Judy felt like she could finally relax for the first time in days. Nick put down his fork and swallowed what was in his mouth, slurping in that trailing noodle before trying to speak. "Are you sure, Carrots?" he asked. "You were pretty serious about staying friends yesterday."

Judy nodded and tried to gather her thoughts. This was way too important for her to be sticking her oversized foot in her mouth. "I know what I said, and I still think we should be careful. It's just that...life can be hard, Nick. It can be so, so much harder than it ought to be. This job won't always be parking tickets and donuts after work. I'm going to see some awful things if I do it long enough, and I need someone that I can trust to stay with me through all of that."

"That's why you're assigned a partner," Nick pointed out.

"And I got a good one, but that's not what I meant." Judy squeezed Nick's paw, her hand shaking a little as she remembered the black body bag being carried away. Jerry Jumbeaux hadn't been a very friendly mammal, but he didn't deserved _that_. "I don't want to be alone, Nick. I want to find love at some point, and I don't know if I could find it with anyone but you. Can we try? Please?"

Nick gripped her hand and brought it up to his lips, delicately kissing it with a smile that was neither lecherous nor entirely innocent. "Yes. No teasing, just this once. The answer's always going to be 'yes'."

* * *

It was getting dark when Jack finally arrived back at his apartment. He lived in a fairly dangerous part of town, but it didn't bother him. Even the dangerous areas of Zootopia were fairly safe for prey animals. It was the predators that had to worry.

The hare unlocked his door after several tries, rubbing his eyes tiredly after a long day. His job was utterly exhausting sometimes. Why were other mammals so hard to deal with?

Jack's home was cramped, but clean. The floor was covered with thick rugs that helped to avoid the autumn chill. He padded across them, shedding parts of his uniform along the way, and fell into a desk chair that had seen better days.

Out came the poster Judy had signed to be smoothed out on the desk once he'd cleared it of camera equipment. There were other scraps as well, bits of twisted metal and wire that he hadn't been able to find a use for.

It was hard to accept that she'd turned him down. Jack had smiled and waved it off like it was no big deal, but deep down it hurt much more than he'd let on. He'd been told by numerous females that he was handsome, even propositioned by a few. Not that he'd ever stoop to something so crude, but he'd been tempted a few times.

Maybe he just needed to try harder to impress her. A barista at a cafe had to be a very forgettable person for the world's first bunny cop, after all. Tomorrow he'd try to chat her up about something relevant to her work.

Now, where to put the poster? There wasn't a whole lot of space on his walls, but Jack found room. He'd had the frame ready to go for days, but lacked the courage to actually ask for an autograph. Soon it was hanging proudly alongside the newspaper clippings and other pictures of his idol. They were everywhere, spread across an entire wall above his bed like a shrine to a pagan goddess.

Some of them were public domain, but he'd taken most of them himself. Pictures of Judy jogging, sitting at the cafe, reading in her apartment in those sweats she never wore outside. She was always so serene like that, curled up on her bed with a book and a blanket.

The ones closer to his pillow were of a more private nature, images that he'd worked really hard to get. One of them in particular had required a zoom lens and lots of patience. In it she was at her most beautiful, stripping off her uniform after a hard day's work. Not quite nude, but very close. He didn't think he'd ever get tired of looking at it.

Tomorrow he'd catch her eye. She hadn't fallen for him yet and he wasn't expecting anything too dramatic, but Jack was confident that he could make it happen.

* * *

"So, what now?"

Judy looked up from her computer screen, a clueless smile on her face. It had been stuck there all day. "Huh?"

Nick leaned back in his chair with a very cocky grin. It was the kind of expression that most furs would want to wipe off his smug snout, but Judy found it strangely endearing. "I said, what now? We're sort of official, right? Shouldn't we start dating?"

The hare pursed her lips thoughtfully. "I guess we should. Tomorrow's our day off, right? Want to see a movie?"

"We could. There's a new Jim Terrier movie playing that's supposed to be funny. There's also a jazz club I like not far from the theater. Dinner and a movie sounds like a good first date. I'll pick you up at six, okay? No need to dress up. We'll just try it on for a night, see how we like it."

She was confident accepting the invitation, but that didn't last long. Judy began to get very, very nervous at home that night. It was a good thing that Nick suggested dressing casually, because she had absolutely nothing to wear. What about perfume? She really wishes she had some. Males liked that sort of thing, right?

It probably depended on the species. That was a problem, since all of the advice Judy had ever been given dealt with impressing other bunnies. In a fit of desperation she pulled out her cell phone and found her mother's number, thinking that any amount of experienced advise was better than none at all.

Judy's mother fumbled with the phone a little before answering. She was out of breath, and the sounds of screaming children in the background gave a good indicator as to why. "H-Hello? Judy, is that you? Hold on a moment, honey. I have to put you down for a bit."

The voices suddenly stopped, meaning that Bonnie had finally wrangled her children and was probably leading them to different corners of the burrow by their ears. "There!" she said after a while. "I'm back. What's up, Jude? You normally don't call so early in the evening."

"I just got off work and I needed some advice. Do you have a minute?"

* * *

Jack watched from his perch across the street, down on his belly with a pair of binoculars. He'd been coming up here for months now, every Tuesday and Thursday like clockwork. The old lock on the roof's access door was so easy to pick that he could almost do it with a paper clip.

It was hard to believe that someone like Judy lived in such a dump. It didn't seem fair after all that she'd done for the city. Jack intended to do something about that once he gained her trust. He'd give her a better place, one without greasy walls or annoying neighbors.

It took almost a full minute for the hare to realize that he wasn't alone. The tigress was standing right next to him when he finally noticed, and his reaction would have been comical in any other context. "Agent Stripe, ZBI," the big cat growled, showing off her extremely pointy teeth. She flashed a badge that somehow managed to be even more intimidating. "Here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to borrow those binoculars and keep tabs on Officer Hopps. You, meanwhile, are going to run home and do whatever creepy little freaks like you do when you're not spying on girls you've got no chance with."

Her fingers closed around his neck, lifting the frightened hare up until his feet were kicking helplessly. His frightened squealing fell on deaf ears. "The next time I catch you anywhere near Hopps, I will personally stomp a mudhole in your worthless hide. I've done far worse to far better people. Understand?"

The only response she got was a frightened scream and the rapid thumping of large paws against the gravel. With that problem out of the way, Stripe settled down to keep an eye on the ZPD's most famous officer. If she got lucky, Bellwether's thugs would be doing some recon work tonight and she could catch them in the act.

Too bad the runt she'd scared off was just a stalker with a crush. This job would have been much easier if he was the target.


	4. Chapter 4: Snapped

Nick showed up right on time wearing his usual collared shirt and tie. Judy had elected to go shopping and buy something that wasn't either sweat pants or her uniform, and greeted him in a blue sundress that showed off her legs. She hoped that wasn't too much for a casual first date.

The fox took her arm and walked her down the hall, admiring her outfit as he did. "You look great, Carrots. Smell great, too. Is that peaches and lilac?"

It was, but not from the same perfume. Judy was wearing lilac, but the peach scent was from her laundry detergent. Nick's nose was a lot better than she gave him credit for. They strolled out of the building, dutifully ignoring her gawking neighbors along the way, and headed for the theater.

Judy was pleasantly surprised by Nick's choice in shows. She wasn't normally a big fan of action movies, but this was more of a lighthearted comedy with some goofy fight scenes thrown in. Partway through the second act she noticed Nick fighting off a yawn with all his might. "Are you not enjoying it?" she asked.

"It's not that," he said, and used the yawn as an excuse to put his arm around her. "It's just getting really cliché in here. I don't mind, though."

Judy playfully elbowed him, but didn't try to pull away. "You're lucky that I don't either," she whispered. His fur was warm, but that stupid armrest was bothering her. Once she'd lifted it out of the way she could properly enjoy herself without something digging into her stomach.

Cuddling up to someone Nick's size was a very pleasant experience. She could smell his fur, recently scrubbed clean with berry-scented body wash. He just felt so...dreamy. Ugh, she hated that word. It was way too cheesy. Then again, as they'd both established, sometimes being cliché wasn't such a bad thing.

Being so close to him was making it hard to concentrate on the movie. Judy kept wondering how the night would end, given that foxes and hares often had very different customs when it came to courtship. She honestly didn't know, and that thought was both a little exciting and a little scary.

It was a short walk from the theater to the jazz club. "I used to come here all the time with Finnick," Nick said as he waved to the ox standing at the door. "He isn't allowed in anymore, though. He causes too much trouble when he's drunk."

"I really wish that came as a surprise." Judy paused in the entryway, letting her eyes adjust to the dimly lit interior of the club. All Nick had to do was take off his sunglasses. No wonder he liked it here.

Once she could finally see past the spots in her vision Judy's eyes widened with surprise. This place was like a scene straight out of an old gangster movie! The band was playing a slow, smooth song under surreal blue stage lamps. Tables and chairs were arranged in concentric rings around them like an old Greek amphitheater. "This doesn't look like casual dining," she whispered. "Are you sure we're not under-dressed?"

"Relax, Carrots." Nick took her hand and led her deeper inside, past shadowy figures and couples sharing drinks until they were standing at a bar just a little too tall for her. "You have to let me show off a little on the first date. I've got a reputation as a charmer to maintain, don't I?"

"A reputation as a hustler," she reminded him. "But I have to admit you're doing very well so far. What's next? Swing dancing?"

Nick made a show of polishing his claws on his shirt. "I can, but I won't. You couldn't keep up." He winked in a way that made it impossible to tell if he was serious. They ordered food and something to drink, then settled into some very comfortable chairs off to one side of the room. "So, what do you think?"

Judy took another look at the room around them. "I'm impressed, but I do hope you realize that I'm not letting you pay for all of this yourself. Fancy drinks and jazz music can't be easy to afford on a cop's salary."

"Yeah, I thought you'd say that." He held up a small billfold that had been sitting safely in her purse a few minutes earlier. "You really shouldn't carry so much cash around like this. It's not safe."

The bunny scoffed and snatched her money out of his hands, resisting the urge to count the bills. "I'm doing my best to forget that you're a former criminal. Try not to remind me."

"Ah ah! _Alleged_ criminal. I was never charged with anything. You're going to have to be careful with those accusations, Officer Hopps. I don't remember you being averse to blackmail when it served your purposes."

He had a good point there. Judy was glad that nobody else had found out about her methods of enlisting Nick's help in the beginning. Her eyes wandered up to the band, a pair of leopards playing instruments while a bat sang her little heart out.

The two felines were enjoying themselves, as their frequent flashes of fanged smiles indicated. One of them had a silver tooth that caught the light every time he grinned just right, making her shiver in her seat.

What in the world had gotten into her lately? Judy had never been overly attracted to predators before, but for the last few weeks every time she saw one flashing his teeth it made her go weak in the knees. Was it just a phase she was going through? Looking back at Nick gave her a similar feeling, like vertigo tickling her stomach. The hare made herself look away, staring down at her club soda until she felt comfortable looking him in the eyes again.

The rest of the evening passed in a haze of smooth music and pleasant conversation. They left the club tipsy, only drunk enough to laugh a little louder than usual. Judy preferred it that way. She'd never been a heavy drinker, and they both had work in the morning.

Nick walked her home, ever the gentlefox. When they reached her apartment Bucky and Pronk were eavesdropping, but that was only to be expected. Judy could tell because they were completely quiet, and they were _never_ quiet. "I had a really great time," she said, and twisted an ear to listen for any kind of reaction. Nothing. Maybe they had gone out for the night?

Nick's voice brought her back to what was really important. "So did I! You know if you'd told me a year ago that I'd be dating a hare and loving it, I'd have laughed in your face while stealing your wallet."

Judy covered her mouth in an ill-fated attempt to hide her grin. "Y-You shouldn't say that. You're a cop now. Besides, I think you've done enough stealing for one night." She made a show of checking for her purse. "Good. Still there."

"You wound me, Carrots. You know I'd never steal from you unless I thought I could get away with it." His smile hadn't faded in at least an hour. Surely his face was getting sore by now. "Seriously though, you should keep a closer eye on this." He took her money clip out of his pocket and handed it back to her. "For a cop you're incredibly careless with your cash."

"And _you're_ a shameless joker, Officer Wilde." Judy stepped in closer, pressing one hand to his chest to feel the beating of his heart. It was a lot slower than her own. Neither of them was sure who initiated it, but their lips met and stayed connected for a very long time.

Oh god, those teeth. Judy had to pull away after a minute, bringing a hand to her mouth as her cheeks began to burn. "I'm sorry!" Nick said quickly. "Did I hurt you?"

"No! No, it's fine. I think I was just surprised." And excited, she mentally added. Very excited.

Nick didn't push his luck. In a way she sort of wished he would. "I think that's a good note to end on," he said, and settled for kissing her hand instead. "Goodnight, Judy. I'll see you tomorrow." Her fingers closed around his and held tight as he tried to leave.

"You don't have to go." Judy winced, hating how the words sounded as they tumbled out of her mouth. It was foolish to risk what they were building together by asking him to come inside. She was supposed to be the responsible one, but right now she didn't _want_ to be responsible. She wanted Nick.

* * *

There was something a little unsettling in the knowledge that a predator and prey animal were romantically involved right next door. Bucky cocked an ear as the door closed and held out a hoof to his partner. "Told you. She's a total predosexual. Pay up."

Pronk turned the page in his book and rolled his eyes. "She just spent the night out with a friend. That doesn't mean anything."

"Did you see the dress she was wearing?" Bucky demanded. "That was a new dress. Nobody buys a new dress just to go hang out with a friend." Someone laughed next door, and he lowered his voice. "Apart from you, that is."

"Hey, shut up!" Pronk snapped.

"You shut up!" Bucky whispered back. "You're just mad because you lost! I told you, the radar is never wrong. "

"You and your stupid radar. First your boss was a lesbo because she passed you up for a female manager, now the neighbor's into predators. What's next? Is Bruce Springbuck gay because you think he's cute?"

Bucky threw a piece of popcorn at his friend. The movie had been paused for nearly twenty minutes by that point. "I just said he looked good in a tank top!"

"Cute in a tanktop. You said he looked cute. Deny it if I'm wrong."

"You're wrong!" he lied. "And for your information, I was right about my boss. I saw her out with another tiger last night. A _female_ tiger."

Pronk raised an eyebrow. "Doesn't she have a sister in town?"

Bucky was pretty sure that Pronk was right. He was _always_ right. Not this time, though! He was wrong about Judy, and tonight they'd know for sure. "It doesn't matter now. What matters is that Judy's brought a fox home and I think I just heard a wine bottle opening."

For a second all was silent, and then Pronk laid down with his head on Bucky's shoulder. "You're wrong and you know it. Wrong, wrong, wrong. Wrong and cute."

"You're such a dork," Bucky muttered, but he didn't mind the attention. "Just keep your ears open. Rabbits tend to move pretty quick when they're in love." They resumed the movie, relaxing together for another few minutes before the kudu paused it again. "Hey, you hear that?"

Pronk coughed nervously and nodded. "Alright, alright. Your stupid radar was right this time."

* * *

The whole day had been one curiosity after another. Judy hadn't gone to the police station, the gym, or any of her normal restaurants. Jack was getting a little anxious by the time she returned home. Where had she been all day? The city's most famous cop almost never stayed out this late, and she had work in the morning!

At least he'd finally found her. Jack's legs kicked idly behind him as he watched her spin in place, showing off a cute dress she'd bought. So that was where she'd been all day. Her mouth was moving, which struck him as odd since she only ever talked to herself when she was upset. That didn't seem to be the case here.

In fact, she almost looked...drunk. Not completely wasted, obviously, but enough that it worried him. Several seconds passed, and someone handed her a glass of wine from outside his field of view. Nick Wilde, professional criminal-turned-cop, sat down on the bed next to her and made a toast of some sort.

The excitement that Jack normally felt while watching the object of his affection slowly turned to horror. Nick was resting a paw dangerously high up on Judy's leg. That wasn't "just friends" territory. They talked for a while, edging closer every so often, before leaning in and kissing.

Jack looked away, his heart pounding. What in the world was she thinking!? Hadn't she considered how this could hurt her career? His heart ached just thinking about what it would do to her reputation if word got out. It could destroy everything she'd worked for.

Worse yet, Nick wasn't finished. Jack's disgust quickly gave rise to anger as the night wore on. He couldn't stand to watch, but it was impossible to look away. The tension in his jaw became painful after a while, so he slipped the leather strap of his binoculars between his teeth. That helped a little.

How could she do this? Judy had turned him down only yesterday, and yet here she was letting some sleazy fox... _defile_ her. It was sick and twisted, like a pornographic film that someone had irresponsibly given life. She was supposed to be better than this.

It all became too much to handle. Jack leapt up and smashed his binoculars against the roof, shattering one of the lenses and bending the frame. He did it again and again, snarling and cursing as he vented his anger. Soon they were a barely recognizable lump of wires and glass, his hands torn open and bleeding from the shards. He didn't care. Nick Wilde was a monster, a criminal that had tainted the purest thing in the world with his cruel, selfish lust. Someone had to do something about it.

Jack's sensitive ears picked out the sounds of Judy's cries over the rest of Zootopia's nighttime ruckus. Her voice was sweet, but to the angry rabbit it was like nails on a blackboard.

* * *

When morning came it was greeted reluctantly, unwelcome in Judy's apartment for the first time since she moved in. Normally she was thrilled to be starting her day, but right now she just wanted to lie in bed and relax. Nick was curled around her protectively like a solid blanket of soft fur. She could feel his heart beating, watch as his chest rose and fell.

What a way to wake up. Judy stayed very still for as long as she could, listening to the silence and Nick's sleepy murmuring. She'd never been with a fox before. Was it normal for her to feel so tired the morning after? Nick had been very careful with her, but he was still a lot stronger than he looked. Most predators were.

It felt like the full weight of what she'd done would hit home at any second. Sleeping with a predator, her best friend, and a coworker all at once? That was quite a night by any standards, especially those of a conservative country bunny. Surely any moment now she'd be paralyzed with dread and shame.

It never happened. Instead she planted a kiss on Nick's nose to wake him up, then laughed as he raised his head to show a wicked case of pillow fur. The entire right side of his face had been pressed flat. "Eh? J-Judy? Wassat...where are we?"

"I'll give you a second. I want to watch it sink in." She beamed as his face went through a slow transformation from confused to shocked, then finally settled on delighted. "Yeah. Remember?"

"Boy, do I ever. So does my back. Move over, I'm about to slip a disk or something." They reluctantly pulled away, untangling legs and arms until they could stretch out better. Nick's joints popped like packing peanuts, making his partner wince. "Oooooh wow. You know, I thought you'd be the sore one."

Judy playfully thumped his stomach as she hopped passed him. "I am. We can get cleaned up here, but we'll have to stop by your place before work so you can get changed. What should I make for breakfast?"

The phone rang before Nick could answer her, sending Judy into an instant panic attack. She saw the Muzzletime icon and lunged for the nearest piece of clothing she could find, throwing a shirt on and leaping back into bed before answering the call. Nick watched the whole thing with a bemused smile. By the time she realized that the shirt was his, it was too late to get something else.

Judy struggled to calm her breathing, even though her heart was pounding. "Mom! Hi! What's up?"

Bonnie waved off-screen, apparently under the impression that her daughter could see. "Hi, honey! I know it's early, but I wanted to check up on you. How did the date go?"

The only way this could have gotten any more uncomfortable was if her neighbors had chimed in at that moment. "It was great! Really great, actually. I can't wait to do it again." Nick's waggling eyebrows made her want to burst out laughing and punch him at the same time. He flexed his muscles, slicked his hair back, anything to give her something to compliment. "He's a little full of himself sometimes, but he's a really sweet guy."

"I'm so happy for you, honey. Is it serious? Are we going to meet him soon?"

"No!" Judy cleared her throat and forced a slick smile that wouldn't have been out of place on Nick's smug face. "I mean no, nothing serious yet. Besides, you know me. Judy-on-duty couldn't take a vacation if her life depended on it."

Bonnie didn't look like she was happy about the answer, but she accepted it. Whatever guilt Judy felt over lying was hugely outweighed by the relief of not having to explain to her mother that she was sleeping with a fox. "You'll visit soon, though, right?" she asked. "We miss you, honey. Maybe you can bring that fox you told us about! We'd love to meet your partner."

"Hah! Yeah, I'm sure you'd just...freak out. I need to get ready for work now, okay? I love you!" Judy hung up and rolled onto her back, arms at her side as she stared at the ceiling. "I never should have told her about our date. Now she won't stop until she knows who I'm seeing."

Nick sat up next to her and held her hand. "I'm a little hurt you didn't tell her the truth, Judy. Not ashamed of me, are you? Or are you just afraid you'll make her jealous?" His tone was joking, but beneath it was a very genuine question from someone that wasn't nearly as self-confident as he appeared to be.

"No," Judy said adamantly. "Never. There are a lot of things you could do to embarrass me, Nick, but I'll never be ashamed of you. My mom just isn't ready to know yet. Try to imagine what it would be like if your mother knew you'd slept with a prey animal on the first date."

Nick pondered the implications for a moment. Slowly his smile fell, and his eyes widened in horror. "She can't know," he said. "We can never tell her. Promise me, Judy. Don't tell my mom _anything_."


	5. Chapter 5: Missing

It was a good thing that Judy always woke up early. They had plenty of time to wash up, get Nick's uniform from his apartment, and make it to the morning briefing with several minutes to spare. Along the way they managed to grab a poor excuse for breakfast and some coffee. There would be time for more later when they could get away with it.

She'd never been to Nick's apartment before. It wasn't in a very nice part of town, and the building itself was in much worse shape than her own. It looked like the kind of place that even a desperate bunny moving from the burrows would have turned her nose up at. Why was he living in a place like this when, by his own admission, he'd been a very successful con artist? Two hundred dollars a day should have paid for a much nicer home.

Judy didn't comment on it, of course. She didn't want to bring up a sensitive subject and hurt Nick's feelings. Instead she just waited for him in the hallway while he changed, then followed him back downstairs without a word. They caught the same bus he rode every day and made it to briefing right on time.

Outwardly it looked as though nothing had changed. Judy and Nick had their usual place at the front of the room, splitting a chair between them and talking quietly until the Chief walked in. Officer Fangmeyer, who was sitting directly behind them, was the only one to notice anything out of the ordinary. The tigress thought she saw a blotchy purple bruise along Judy's neck, almost like a bit mark, but it was mostly hidden under her collar.

It wasn't something that she wanted to call attention to. Fangmeyer's knuckles were freshly scabbed over, and she didn't feel like drawing attention to her own injuries.

Chief Bogo handed out assignments again. Judy and Nick weren't working together, but they didn't mind. Plenty of time to socialize after work. "There was another item on the docket today," said the buffalo, "but our main presenter isn't here. I suppose I'll have to do it myself. Some of you have probably heard rumors about the ZBI case floating around the office. I want to address those now before it gets out of control. Yes, we do believe that there is a serial killer active in the city."

A small murmur of surprise passed through the room. Bogo raised a hand and instantly put a stop to any half-whispered conversations. "This is strictly need-to-know! None of you will be given any details beyond what our expert deems necessary, and you are absolutely forbidden from revealing any of it to anyone. The new tiger you've see around the precinct is Agent Stripe. She's our liaison with the ZBI, and I expect nothing but complete professionalism from every last one of you. Do not give the feds a reason to question how we do things around here. Is that understood?"

If his words didn't drive the message home, then his tone certainly did. Animals filed out two by two, many of them burning with curiosity about the big news. Not one of them dared to ask about it. Bogo was already in a bad mood, and they didn't want to make it worse.

* * *

Nick and Judy didn't go on another date that night. Neither of them felt up to a second night on the town, and they didn't have any fun ideas anyway. Instead they decided to spend the evening at Nick's place watching television and enjoying each other's company.

Judy wasn't sure if she wanted to spend the night together again, and told Nick as much. She'd read somewhere that jumping right into the deep end was a bad thing to do early in a relationship. Still, it was best to be prepared. She didn't want to run halfway across the city to get ready in the morning. They decided that she would head home and come by after work with a movie to watch if things got boring.

Nick looked around at his dingy little apartment, wondering if he could clean it up a bit before Judy arrived. Probably not. He wasn't a messy fox, and the place was about as nice as he could make it. Thirty minutes of frantic scrubbing wasn't going to wash the poverty away.

He knew that Judy was wondering about the state of his home, but she was too polite to ask. He loved her for that. Someday he'd tell her about all of his secrets, but he just wasn't ready yet. She'd pity him for all of it, and he didn't want that. His mother's medical bills, Finnick's gambling debts, the difficulty of finding an affordable apartment for predators... he couldn't dump all of that on her after the first date. No, there was a time and a place, and this wasn't it.

Ten minutes later, the fox received a text from his bunny: "I'm not feeling well, Nick. I don't think I can come over like this. I'm sorry."

It was a disappointment, but he was more worried about Judy's health than he was about the evening's plans. "That's okay. Get some rest and feel better, Carrots. Let me know if I can bring you anything.

"No need. I have what I need. See you tomorrow."

The text made a little pinging noise as it was sent from Judy's phone. Jack waited around a little while to make sure that Nick wasn't going to respond, then dropped it into the deepest river in the Rainforest District. With that taken care of, he turned around and walked back into his apartment.

He had a few things to round up before leaving for the zoo. It was the perfect place to be alone while it was closed for renovations, with only the occasional visit from the custodial staff to worry about between now and opening day.

* * *

When morning came Nick was in his usual place at the usual time. He was also alone, which was a little worrisome. Was Judy really so ill that she had to miss work? Her nickname of "Judy-on-duty" was in danger of being revoked.

Chief Bogo noticed her absence as well, and looked just as surprised. "Wild, where's your partner?"

"She said she wasn't feeling well last night," Nick answered. "Guess she had to take a sick day. Didn't she call in?"

The Chief looked over his notes and shook his head. "No. Tell her I'd like to speak with her about this when you see her again." He went back to his briefing, dishing out assignments with the slightly bored tone of a drill sergeant that hadn't found a good reason to get angry yet.

Nick accepted his usual assignment without a word, but he didn't set out on his usual route. There were plenty of meters to maid near Judy's apartment, right? No harm in swinging by to check on her.

Something began to feel wrong as he approached her door. Judy hadn't responded to any of his texts on the way over. Nick didn't fancy himself a detective, but he knew trouble when he smelled it. The door was unlocked, for starters. He pushed it open and called out, not wanting to startle her by showing up unannounced.

It only took one look to see that she wasn't home. Nick was far from panicked, but the situation was making him increasingly uneasy. He could smell her here, but the scent was all wrong. Someone else had been in her apartment as recently as last night.

He was pretty sure that Judy didn't have a second boyfriend on the side, especially not one that smelled so unpleasant. Whoever it was reeked of ammonia and musk. He hadn't smelled anything like that before. Nick looked around a little, reluctant to snoop when Judy wasn't here but determined to find her.

Ten minutes of looking turned up nothing. Like him, Judy was a very tidy person. The only thing that stood out in her apartment was a half-eaten bouquet of tulips in the refrigerator. Unless his friend's snacking habits were the key to all of this, Nick didn't think he'd find the answer there.

He tried to call his friend, but it went right to voicemail. Either Judy had turned her phone off, or it had died. Maybe she'd checked herself into a hospital or something. That seemed like a good explanation, even if it left him climbing the walls with worry. If it was really that bad, why hadn't she called?

He might have been over thinking this. Nick had to take a step back and look at the situation as a cop, not a worried boyfriend. It was possible that a very ill Judy had just forgotten to call in sick and gone to see a doctor. She hadn't called him first because there was simply no reason to. He was supposed to be at work, after all. Perhaps he should get back to that instead of worrying about nothing.

On the way out of the building Nick encountered that unpleasant smell again, like a filthy locker room mixed with spilled cleaning fluid that hadn't done the job. Against his better judgment he followed the smell across the street, wondering what in the world had left such an unfamiliar odor. It led to the stairwell, and from there up to the roof. How had this gotten tracked all the way across the street and into Judy's apartment?

The door had a really shoddy lock. If Nick wanted to find an easy way to spy on someone in secret - which he never had - this would be perfect. He opened his wallet and pulled out the paper clip he kept there for just such an occasion. It took just over a minute for him to get the lock to turn.

A gentle breeze wafted more of that strange scent into the hallway as Nick stepped outside. There was also a second smell, a weirdly familiar tang in the air that he didn't like at all.

A big, black crow flew right in front of his face with an indignant squawk. Nick yelped and almost jumped out of his skin, his poor heart suddenly pounding. That thing was huge! Were he a smaller mammal he'd be running for his life!

The crow landed on one of the AC units nearby and glared at him. Nick thought that he saw something glinting in its beak, but the bright sun had blinded him after being indoors for so long. Even his sunglasses weren't enough, and he had to lift a hand to shade his eyes. That was a bit better.

That stupid bird was smacking something against the vent on which it stood. The sharp crack of metal on metal made his ears twitch. It was a ring, a little golden band that it must have picked up somewhere. It looked a little familiar, but he couldn't place where he'd seen it before.

Nick stepped up to the roof's edge and looked down at something else that had caught his attention. It was a pair of binoculars, or rather a mess of metal and glass that had once been binoculars. He could pick out little flecks of red on some of the more jagged edges of the lenses.

It didn't take a genius to put two and two together. Here were some broken binoculars, and there was Judy's apartment right across the street. Nick could feel goose bumps rising up along his arms and back. How long had someone been spying on her? Were they watching two nights ago? His instincts said yes, even if the very thought made him feel dirty.

As be backed away something soft brushed against his leg. Nick looked down into a pair of blank, staring eyes that were exactly the same color as his own. The eyes were almost the only things he could recognize anymore. The rest of the face was just...gone. It was hard to tell what was the killer's work and what had been done by the birds.

It wasn't the first body he'd seen, but it made an impression. Nick could tell instantly that he'd never forget those eyes. He'd see them in his nightmares for the rest of his life.

The next few minutes were a very confusing blur. Nick fumbled with his radio, trying to remember the right shorthand to use when asking for backup. Was this technically an officer down? He couldn't remember if other law enforcement agencies counted. "C-Clawhauser?"

The cheetah's familiar voice answered back, and Nick struggled to make his voice form words. "I-I got a one eighty-seven on the roof of the Sunset Hotel. It's Agent Stripe... uh, over."

"A one eighty-seven? Are you sure? Nick, that's-"

"It's a murder!" he snapped. "Yes, Clawhauser, I know. There's a dead body up here and a pair of binoculars. You know what's right across the street? _Judy's apartment_. Someone's been _watching_ her, and now she's missing. I think...I think she's been kidnapped. She needs help!"

Something crackled behind him, and Nick cursed himself for not paying more attention to his surroundings. He'd been so distracted that whoever it was snuck up on him with no trouble at all. A powerful surge of electricity rushed through him, causing every muscle in his body to clench up at once. He dropped like a stone, flopping down onto the rooftop and continuing to jerk every so often until the pain finally stopped.

Jack stood over him with a pink taser in one hand and a needle in the other. Nick struggled to find his voice, to say something that might be useful. "Jack!" he gasped as the needle jabbed into his neck. "Jack Rabbit!" He struggled, but another few seconds of high-voltage punishment took care of that problem. The bunny didn't let go of the trigger until he was completely unresponsive.

* * *

It took a long, long time for Judy to wake up. Her ears twitched first, and then her eyes fluttered open. It was at that exact moment that a big, angry komodo dragon lunged against the side of his cage with an angry hiss. The poor bunny yelped and scrambled away, bumping her head against the roof of her enclosure and flinching as another lizard came at her from behind.

For a while she just huddled in the middle of her cage, frantically trying to think of a way out. It looked like a normal animal enclosure, clear glass all around with a heavy roof made of wire mesh. It was built thick and sturdy, with the only way out above her.

Maybe she could weaken the metal with enough work? Judy tried to bend the wires of the roof, but they were woven together so tightly that they wouldn't give an inch. The floor was bare, leaving her with nothing but her fists and feet to try and break the glass. That didn't seem like a good idea without some sort of protection.

The stench in here was overpowering. Judy could tell instantly where she was: the Zootopia Zoo. It had one of the largest reptile exhibits in the world, including a huge enclosure filled with komodo dragons. She guessed this had to be one of the back rooms where smaller lizards were kept until they were big enough to mix in with the main group. It looked a bit like a vet's office that had given up on cleanliness.

A pair of double doors at the far end of the room flew open and Nick stumbled in. His hands were cuffed behind his back, making it impossible to catch himself before running headlong into a cabinet full of lizard food. Jack was close behind, and jabbed the poor fox between the shoulder blades with a taser when he tried to move. "I didn't say to stand up!" he snarled. "You just stay there and be quiet, Wilde. Understand?"

Nick took a moment to glare at his captor, but forgot about his anger when he noticed Judy watching them alive and in once piece. The relief he felt was so great that it almost made being tased worth it. Almost.

Judy put her paw up to the glass and sniffled as she tried to hide her tears. She really didn't want him to see her crying. "Oh, thank god. I thought you'd never show up."

"You know me. I'm never happy unless I'm keeping someone in suspense." Nick craned his neck to look at her and flashed a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, Carrots. We'll be alright."

Jack's prodded his shoulder, reminding him to be quiet. "Shut up. You've done enough harm."

"Harm?" Judy asked. "What harm? What's he ever done to you? Jack, please tell me this isn't because I turned you down. Nick had nothing to do with that!"

"You're a liar!" the other rabbit snarled. "We all know better! You were _perfect_ , Judy! You were exactly the kind of cop this city needed. You never missed a day, never showed up late, never even slept in after the neighbors kept you up all night! Then this son of a...well, this fox starts sniffing up your skirt and suddenly you're acting like a total predophile. It's _disgusting_."

Nick's fingers were slowly working away at the handcuffs while Jack talked. If he could just slide his claw beneath the teeth, he might be able to spring the lock open and break free. Jack was only dangerous because of that stupid fox taster. He was sure he could tackle the bunny and wrestle it away from him. He just needed to keep talking. "You know that you'll never get away with this, right?"

Jack's lip curled in disgust, and he aimed a hard kick at Nick's ribs. It knocked the wind out of him, but luckily didn't break anything. "Pretty sure I told you to shut up. Besides, I fully intend to disappear once this is over with. Do you have any idea how many rabbits live out there in the burrows? I've got hundreds of brothers and sisters that can take me in."

"That won't work," Judy interrupted. She saw what Nick was doing and tried to help him stall. "You're a murderer, Jack. A serial killer. The trail of bodies is always going to lead straight to you, no matter where you go. You couldn't stop even if you wanted to. Those other animals were yours, weren't they? How did you do it? How does a little rabbit split an elephant's skull?"

Nick was making progress, and Jack was too caught up in his own twisted achievement to notice. "I thought you'd never ask, Judy. I got creative. You see, I've always had a thing for machines. I'm not a genius or anything, but I dabble." He padded over to a workbench and held up a heavy metal contraption. It was shaped like the world's least ergonomic pistol, and was so heavy that it couldn't be carried properly in one hand. Part of the reason for that was the big tank of compressed air jutting out from the side. "I call it a bolt pistol."

The murderous bunny held the device against the thick wood of the workbench and pulled the trigger. There was a loud crack, and the board snapped cleanly in two. "You like it?" he asked. "It's got a pointed steel bolt that retracts back into the gun after firing. There's no bullet, no powder residue, just an injury that looks impossible for a rabbit to inflict."

"But why?" Judy asked. What was taking Nick so long?

"Hold on a second." Jack hopped over to Nick's side and stomped on his hands, causing the fox's claw to snap off in the lock. "That's more like it. Let's see if you can guess, Judy." He knelt down on Nick's back and placed the bolt gun against the poor fox's temple.

Judy felt like her heart was going to leap out of her chest. "No, don't hurt him!" she begged. "Please! I'll do whatever you want!"

"I want you to guess!" Jack snapped. "Come on, it's not hard. Think! If you can guess, I'll let Nick go. You'll still get fed to the lizards, but your mangy fox will live. That's what you want, isn't it?"

Her mind raced. At any moment Jack could pull the trigger, and then Nick would be dead. She'd never get to hug him again, never feel those butterflies in her chest when he smiled. She couldn't let that happen. "You wanted to be famous," she answered, saying the first thing that came to mind.

"Wrong."

Damn. What other reason would he have to target only larger mammals? "Was it something about carrying on Bellwether's work?"

"Wrong again!" Jack said. "Although you were pretty close there. Think, Judy. You're only looking at the big picture. Make it more personal."

What was more personal than murder? Judy' first instinct was to step back and look at it like a cop, but that wouldn't help here. She needed to think like Jack, to view the world as a story centered around herself with no other characters that really mattered. "It was for sport, wasn't it?"

"Yes!" Jack backed away from Nick, giving him one final kick for good measure. "It didn't start out that way, of course. In the beginning I was trying to continue Bellwether's work. The first mammal I killed was a timber wolf, and you know what? It was a rush. I'm talking a straight up, Hemmingwolf-style thrill. That's when everything changed. That's why I moved on to prey animals. I still leave the same kinds of messages about wage equality and stuff, though. It's important to stay consistent."

The fox at his feet rolled onto his back. It was mostly because he was uncomfortable, but had the benefit of hiding his hands from view. He was already trying to pick his broken claw out of the lock and start anew. "You're ssssso full of it," he hissed, the pain in his chest almost more than he could stomach. "Bellwether was...driven. She had a code. You're just a sick bunny with...with a Napoleon complex."

Jack rolled his eyes and grabbed his taser from the workbench. "I'm getting sick of your attitude," he said, and jabbed Nick with it. He didn't let up, holding the trigger down as the poor fox jerked and sputtered in agony. "Go ahead, Nick! Make a joke now! Where's that sense of humor, huh?"

Judy pounded on the glass with her fists, but it just wouldn't break. The tank was build to contain animals larger than her, after all. "Stop it! You're gonna kill him!" She threw her body against the walls, shoulders slamming into the glass again and again. All the while she heard the taser's awful, mechanical clicking and Nick's pained thrashings.

The cage didn't break, but it did the next best thing. Judy managed to tip it over, and it fell to the ground with a clatter that could have woken the dead. A big, beautiful crack split one side of it almost all the way through. It wasn't enough to break through the glass itself, but now the lid didn't fit properly. With a little work she was pretty sure she could pop it loose and escape.

Jack finally let up on the trigger, and Nick's awful spasms stopped. "What did you say?" he asked. "Come on, Wilde, speak up! Say something funny!"

Nick had to catch his breath for a moment before croaking out something that sort of resembled words. "What...what did..."

The rabbit leaned down to listen, and Nick finally was able to finish his sentence. "What did the five claws say to the face?" His paws sprang free of the cuffs, and he swiped weakly at the rabbit's cheek. It wasn't a serious injury, but he did manage to draw some blood. The surprise was really more powerful than any pain it caused. Jack stumbled backward into his bench, wiping blood from his cheek and staring down at the fox in bewilderment.

Well, this just wouldn't stand. Jack grabbed a heavy wrench from his tool bag and stood over Nick, fully intending to bash the filthy creature's brains out right in front of the wonderful person that he'd defiled.

Said wonderful person took great pleasure in tasing him, showing only a little more mercy than he'd had for Nick. It hurt a lot more than he'd expected. Jack didn't come to his senses until he felt handcuffs closing around his wrists.

The game was over, and he knew it. "I had it all planned out," he said morosely, looking up at Judy like a scolded puppy. "I would have been a great boyfriend, Judy. We could have been famous." After making sure that Nick was alright, Judy tased him again for good measure.


	6. Chapter 6: Recovery

By the time the rest of the ZPD arrived, Nick had propped himself up against the wall and was resting the taser against Jack's leg. He pulled the trigger any time the bunny tried to move, or if it looked like he was working at the cuffs behind his back. Sometimes he did it just because it was funny and he was getting bored.

"See that?" Nick asked, indicating the red and blue lights flashing through the windows. "I know you're not a cop, so I wouldn't expect you to understand, but throwing the bad guys in jail is a real rush. I'm talking a straight up, Dirty Harry-style thrill. There's nothing else like it. See, it really is all about the principle of the thing."

"Bastard," Jack grumbled, but he didn't try to fight back as they hauled him to his feet. Nick was limping badly, and clutched his side with one hand. Every breath hurt. He had only the minimum medical training required for an officer, but anyone could tell that Jack had done a number on his ribs.

The paramedics confirmed what he'd been afraid of. Two of his ribs were either bruised or cracked, and his ankle had been sprained while getting pushed around the zoo. Considering that he'd been seconds away from getting executed, he'd gotten off pretty light. Judy was completely unharmed apart from a bump on the head she'd gotten while being abducted. Apparently Jack had never sedated anyone before, and didn't know enough to catch her when she passed out.

Chief Bogo arrived on the scene soon after the first responders. His normally stern face was visibly relieved when he saw that his officers were alive and mostly unharmed. "Hopps," he said, "they tell me you were kidnapped. Are you hurt?"

Judy shook her head. "I'm fine, Chief. Nick's the one that took all the punishment."

"I'm here too," Nick said with a dreamy smile. "Feeling great, actually. My new friends gave me some morphine. I'm not sure how much I've had, but I think it's enough."

Bogo gave the fox a rare smile and shook his hand. "You did well, Wilde. Both of you did. Today I almost lost two of my best cops, and that little freak almost got away with it. Take some time off and recover. Let us know if you need anything."

Judy was a little taken aback. "That's it? Aren't you going to say anything about...us?"

The Chief's face fell back into the no-nonsense stare that he wore almost permanently. "About what?" he asked. "A dangerous psychopath abducted you and your partner. You were lucky to get out of it alive. Anything else that may have happened, anything that might be going on between you two, is completely irrelevant."

"But it's-"

"Frowned on!" Nick interrupted, then winced and held his side. "That's right. It's frowned on for partners to date. Officially there isn't actually anything the department is required to do about it. Isn't that right, Chief?"

"More or less," Bogo agreed. "What, did you think you were special? I've been doing this a long time, Hopps. You aren't the first pair of officers to get involved with each other. You aren't even the tenth. Do try to keep things quiet, though, for god's sake. If I have to endure some kind of media circus because the two of you are making doe eyes at each other, I _swear_ I'll skin you both alive before I fire you."

* * *

The following morning Chief Bogo was visited by the second ZBI agent he'd seen in the last few days. It wasn't a nice surprise. He didn't like working with the feds, an opinion shared by the vast majority of local law enforcement officers all across the country. The ZBI had a bad reputation of stealing the credit for other mammals' work.

This one didn't seem interested in any of that, which was a real blessing. He claimed it was more of a personal visit. "I knew Stripe," the rabbit explained. "She was a friend. I just want to make sure she didn't die in vain."

"She didn't," Bogo assured him. "Her death indirectly led to the capture of a very dangerous serial killer that she was investigating. I don't think I caught your name, Agent."

"It's Savage. Jack Savage. There's something else I need, and I know it's a lot to ask. There was a ring she wore on her tail. I'd like to give it to someone, if possible. She always wanted her husband to have it if anything happened to her."

While he was reluctant to part with anything in the evidence lockup, Bogo knew that something this trivial wasn't worth causing a grieving widower additional pain. The ring itself wasn't anything special, and it had already been examined by forensics.

Jack followed him to the lockup and hopped up on the table as the Chief opened the envelope containing Agent Stripe's personal effects. Inside was a wallet, the ring, a pair of sunglasses, and a small inhaler. "There you go," the Chief said. "Is that supposed to be a wedding ring? I wasn't aware that tigers wore it on their tales."

"They don't," Jack said, and calmly grabbed the inhaler.

Chief Bogo was completely taken by surprise. "Hey! The ring is fine, but that's evidence!"

Jack pulled out a small cloth and wiped his fingerprints off the device before sliding it into his pocket. "No, it isn't. It was never here. The tiger you found on that rooftop was a ZBI agent operating without the Bureau's authorization. She was off the reservation, so to speak."

"I saw the paperwork myself!" The Chief had half a mind to slap the rabbit in cuffs and be done with it. "Put that back right now before I do something we'll both regret! Don't test me, Savage. I'm not someone you can bully around by flashing a badge!"

Jack's glare put an end to the argument before he'd even opened his mouth. "Chief Idris Bogo, attended ZSHS for four years and played football for two of them. Hospitalized with a back injury that put an end to the football scholarship you were hoping for. Turned down by both the army and the navy for your herniated disk. Worked your way through college and earned a degree in criminal psychology, then attended the police academy where you excelled in every field and graduated top of your class. Ten years later you became Chief of Police, the first prey mammal to do so in almost eighty years. Did I miss anything?"

Bogo stared down at the bunny, completely at a loss for words. "I thought so," Jack said, sounding almost disappointed. "I'll be honest with you, Chief. I do like you. You're a good cop, and the city needs good cops. Keep doing what you're doing and forget you ever saw me or this device. It's best for everyone that way. Goodbye."

"What have you people been doing in my city?" the buffalo asked. He never got an answer. Jack strolled out of the building and vanished, never to be seen there again.

Jack completely changed his appearance once he made it outside. He tossed his badge into a nearby trash can, removed his jacket, and turned it inside out. Now it was a grey sweatshirt that looked nothing like the cheap suit he'd been wearing before. He slipped in an ear bud and turned it on, then vanished into the crowd like a ghost. It wasn't hard when everyone was several feet taller than him.

His handler called a few minutes later. Jack kept his voice low even though he was confident that nobody was listening in. "Yeah, I got it. Doesn't mean I'm happy about it. No...no, as far as I can tell she never got the chance to use it. Yeah, the little creep ambushed her before she even knew he was there. Told you she was getting sloppy."

The voice in his ear wasn't pleased. Oh well. "You know my opinion. Either you scrap the whole thing, or people will find out. I won't stick my neck out for you again...yeah. I'll be at the drop soon. Savage out."

* * *

Nick and Judy were both given plenty of time to recover from their ordeal. For Nick this meant several weeks of bed rest. He didn't complain at first, but after the first few days he started to go out of his mind with boredom. Without Judy to keep him company he'd have gone insane.

Her own recovery time wasn't nearly as long, though there were a few personal days tacked on to make sure that she had her head on straight after the ordeal. Even after Judy had to go back, she visited whenever she had the chance. She was there before work, after work, and usually on her lunch break as well.

Finnick often visited when Judy couldn't. He was a bit less sympathetic to Nick's injuries, insisting that "being a pig comes with its risks". It was still nice to have him around.

Two weeks after the incident, when the pain was mostly gone and Nick was spending an afternoon with Judy, she said something that surprised him. Partly that was because he was sure she was asleep next to his bed. "I love you," she murmured, and gently took his hand.

The fox looked over at her with raised eyebrows. "What brought this on?"

"Everything. We almost died, Nick. If I hadn't been able to push that reptile tank over, or if it hadn't broken just right, Jack would have killed you. Then he'd kill me. I've been a cop for less than a year, and I've already had two near-death experiences." She tried to smile, even if it hurt a little to remember it all. "I know we haven't been together for very long. I just want to take the time to say it now, because we came really close to never getting the chance."

Nick squeezed her hand and grinned. "I know. I love you too, Carrots. Just don't ask me to get beaten up again trying to prove it, okay? Once was enough."


End file.
